Hi everyone. I'm pretty new to the forum and have only been in korea for two months, so I'm sorry that I'm going to start off with a negative post, just wanted to share an experience I had and get some feedback from you guys.

My friends and I were out at Kyungsung University in Busan having some drinks at a bar (we were not drunk). As we were coming down the stairs, I see this guy talking to his girl and I think I might have brushed him. I said "mian hamnida" to him and walked out of the doorway. A couple of my friends come out, and this guy flies out of the doorway and punches my friend in the face. He then starts yelling stuff at him and trying to punch him again. I thought things were broken up, but he then goes to punch him again and I grab the guy and hold him down. My friend comes over to help restrain the guy and we think it's over. He then comes at my friend a third time punching at kicking, yelling all sorts of madness. This was completely unprovoked too; my friend didn't touch or say anything to him (he was with his girlfriend). I think the guy might've though it was me because we were both wearing red shirts.

People have told me never to fight a Korean because the law will always back them up and never the foreigner. I didn't fight, although I sure felt like going rounds. I hear if you do fight you usually have to pay a huge fine (one friend has a friend who had to pay 4 million won for being attacked) or are deported.

Is this common? Do these type of altercations happen a lot? Is it directed mainly at foreigners, or is just something drunk Korean guys do (or drunk people anywhere, for that matter)?

Anyway, in my time here, which has included numerous late, drunken nights, nothing like that has ever happened to me. The best story I have I actually missed by five minutes when I went back to our team's hotel while on a soccer trip to Busan and those that stayed were treated to a drunk Korean guy holding the bar hostage with a knife for an hour or so.

Is this common? Do these type of altercations happen a lot? Is it directed mainly at foreigners, or is just something drunk Korean guys do (or drunk people anywhere, for that matter)?

Koreans are mostly all bark and rarely any bite. Physical altercations do happen, but I'm not sure any more often than any of our home countries. Check the general forum for more similar stories.
Interesting how many of these tales start with "The other night we were out in a bar and....". Not to say it's your fault, but alcohol on one side or the other seems to account for the vast majority of scraps.
Whoever started it, you are right about one thing....legally it rarely ends well for the foreigner - not out of the realm of impossibility for the guy to come out you later for cash in that you hurt his hand or some other crap whilst restraining him.
How did the whole thing end?

Is this common? Do these type of altercations happen a lot? Is it directed mainly at foreigners, or is just something drunk Korean guys do (or drunk people anywhere, for that matter)?

Koreans are mostly all bark and rarely any bite. Physical altercations do happen, but I'm not sure any more often than any of our home countries. Check the general forum for more similar stories.
Interesting how many of these tales start with "The other night we were out in a bar and....". Not to say it's your fault, but alcohol on one side or the other seems to account for the vast majority of scraps.
Whoever started it, you are right about one thing....legally it rarely ends well for the foreigner - not out of the realm of impossibility for the guy to come out you later for cash in that you hurt his hand or some other crap whilst restraining him.
How did the whole thing end?

It ended by my friend going up the stairs with his girlfriend into another bar. We all let the korean guy go after our friend had left and his girlfriend finally was able to take him away.

I'm sure many stories like this happen near bars, but then again we are in our twenties and it was a friday night. My friend isn't a big drinker, and was by no means drunk (he only had one beer, but you can rest assure I bought him some drinks afterwards, and a bag of ice), but the other guy seemed to be pretty well lit. Usually, things like this you can see coming, you can feel tension building and there are usually some words exchanged. But this came completely out of left field; the guy just ran out of the stairwell and punched him.

The ending sounds unusual. I expected the police and army to turn up and arrest you, your friends, and anyone else in the vicinity who were white. The you'd be dragged off to jail and made to watch anti-westerner tv shows until being let out wearing a small cat.

Your friend's a wuss. He should have hit back. And you're a horrible friend, you should have helped your friend out by laying the guy out who was on top of him.. Shame on both of you (more on you though, what friend doesn't help another friend getting beat up? I wouldn't talk or hang out with you after that if I were your friend).

These stories are coming up more frequently, and I think it's time waegookins get over paying the blood money and start defending yourself--I'm NOT saying start stuff--I'm saying defend and finish it if it gets brought to you. You won't get deported, at least not from what I've read on here.

Last edited by Dodge7 on Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:07 pm; edited 1 time in total

Your friend's a wuss. He should have hit back. And you're a horrible friend, you should have helped your friend out by laying the guy out who was on top of him.. Shame on both of you (more on you though, what friend doesn't help another friend getting beat up? I wouldn't talk or hang out with you after that if I were your friend).

These stories are coming up more frequently, and I think it's time waegookins get over paying the blood money and start defending yourself--I'm saying start stuff--I'm saying defend and finish it if it gets brought to you. You won't get deported, at least not from what I've read on here.

And you're a douche. He wasn't getting grounded and pounded, he took a crack and we thought it was broken up. but the guy kept coming back with random cracks. so i just held the guy down. yea i guess i could've started throwing blows, but then the guy's face would've been all messed up. luckily, the guy was weak as hell and my buddy only has a fat lip and maybe a bruise on his nose (nothing broken).

you get into much fights here dodge? i'm sure you're just laying those riley koreans out left and right, but the police don't do anything because you're such a valuable asset to korean society.

The ending sounds unusual. I expected the police and army to turn up and arrest you, your friends, and anyone else in the vicinity who were white. The you'd be dragged off to jail and made to watch anti-westerner tv shows until being let out wearing a small cat.

They were going to but they forgot that all American EPIK teachers are actually CIA agents that can blend in seamlessly to the Korean population at will.

[quote="Dodge7"]Your friend's a wuss. He should have hit back. And you're a horrible friend, you should have helped your friend out by laying the guy out who was on top of him.. Shame on both of you (more on you though, what friend doesn't help another friend getting beat up? I wouldn't talk or hang out with you after that if I were your friend).

These stories are coming up more frequently, and I think it's time waegookins get over paying the blood money and start defending yourself--I'm saying start stuff--I'm saying defend and finish it if it gets brought to you. You won't get deported, at least not from what I've read on here.[/quote

I'm sorry, but I have to agree.It sounds like an unfortunate situation and the Korean guy was being a fool, but a man's honor should supercede the fear of police interaction and or deportation from this country.

From the story you told,your party was completely innocent and your friend a victim of a drunken Korean bully.

I wouldn't call you a wuss,rather a foreigner trying to make sure you didn't step on anyone's toes in a foreign country.

Personally,I would've made the Korean guy swallow his teeth in front of his girlfriend.I would've dealt with the consequences,as cruel as they may have been, but still feel the honor and pride in my heart.

Your friend's a wuss. He should have hit back. And you're a horrible friend, you should have helped your friend out by laying the guy out who was on top of him.. Shame on both of you (more on you though, what friend doesn't help another friend getting beat up? I wouldn't talk or hang out with you after that if I were your friend).

These stories are coming up more frequently, and I think it's time waegookins get over paying the blood money and start defending yourself--I'm saying start stuff--I'm saying defend and finish it if it gets brought to you. You won't get deported, at least not from what I've read on here.

And you're a douche. He wasn't getting grounded and pounded, he took a crack and we thought it was broken up. but the guy kept coming back with random cracks. so i just held the guy down. yea i guess i could've started throwing blows, but then the guy's face would've been all messed up. luckily, the guy was weak as hell and my buddy only has a fat lip and maybe a bruise on his nose (nothing broken).

you get into much fights here dodge? i'm sure you're just laying those riley koreans out left and right, but the police don't do anything because you're such a valuable asset to korean society.

Never been close to getting into an altercation with a Korean in Korea. But if some dude hit me, you better believe I'd punish him. I didn't take that stuff back home and sure as hell wouldn't take it here. Like the guy above said, where's your honor and pride?

As horrible as what happened to the OP is, puffed up Korean guys bellowing in their stupid konglish clutching their man bags never fail to amuse me.
If I ever got into a fight with one of that lot, I'd be laughing my bottom off as they kicked me to death.

Your friend's a wuss. He should have hit back. And you're a horrible friend, you should have helped your friend out by laying the guy out who was on top of him.. Shame on both of you (more on you though, what friend doesn't help another friend getting beat up? I wouldn't talk or hang out with you after that if I were your friend).

These stories are coming up more frequently, and I think it's time waegookins get over paying the blood money and start defending yourself--I'm saying start stuff--I'm saying defend and finish it if it gets brought to you. You won't get deported, at least not from what I've read on here.

And you're a douche. He wasn't getting grounded and pounded, he took a crack and we thought it was broken up. but the guy kept coming back with random cracks. so i just held the guy down. yea i guess i could've started throwing blows, but then the guy's face would've been all messed up. luckily, the guy was weak as hell and my buddy only has a fat lip and maybe a bruise on his nose (nothing broken).

you get into much fights here dodge? i'm sure you're just laying those riley koreans out left and right, but the police don't do anything because you're such a valuable asset to korean society.

Never been close to getting into an altercation with a Korean in Korea. But if some dude hit me, you better believe I'd punish him. I didn't take that stuff back home and sure as hell wouldn't take it here. Like the guy above said, where's your honor and pride?

I don't think a 2 on 1 fight is very fair. I'll pull people apart, but honestly I thought my friend could handle himself. That's why I tackled the Korean after the second time he came at my friend. Maybe I should've socked him up good too, but honestly people were pulling me off of him and keeping me out of it. My buddy isn't really hurt so whatever.

Don't know how much honor there is in street fighting. Pride, for sure, but honor?

I was asking people on this thread how common this is. Maybe not all that common, just caught the random drunken fool.

The ending sounds unusual. I expected the police and army to turn up and arrest you, your friends, and anyone else in the vicinity who were white. Then you'd be dragged off to jail and made to watch anti-westerner tv shows until being let out wearing a small cat.

They were going to but they forgot that all American EPIK teachers are actually CIA agents that can blend in seamlessly to the Korean population at will.